BOLDMEMBER

Adriano Espaillat

U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat proudly represents New York’s Thirteenth Congressional District and was sworn into office on January 3, 2017, during the 115th Congress.

Congressman Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic in 1954 and came to the United States with his family when he was 9 years old. He grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City and is the first Dominican-American to ever serve in the United States Congress. Congressman Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

A steadfast champion for working- and middle-class New Yorkers, Congressman Espaillat is a staunch advocate of a fair living wage, immediate and effective investments in affordable housing, meaningful criminal justice reform, infrastructure improvements, expanded youth programs, and better educational opportunities.

Throughout the tenure of his career in public service, Congressman Espaillat has been a vocal advocate for protecting tenants, improving schools, and making serious, smart investments in economic development, job creation, and environmental protection. Prior to coming to Congress, he served as a New York State Senator during which he represented the neighborhoods of Marble Hill, Inwood, Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights, West Harlem, the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton, and Chelsea.

Prior to entering public service, he also served as the Manhattan Court Services Coordinator for the NYC Criminal Justice Agency, a non-profit organization that provides indigent legal services and works to reduce unnecessary pretrial detention and post-sentence incarceration costs. He later worked as Director of the Washington Heights Victims Services Community Office, an organization offering counseling and other services to families of victims of homicides and other crimes, and as the Director of Project Right Start, a national initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to combat substance abuse by educating the parents of pre-school children.